Western Division (NBA)
1946–1970 division of NBA and BAA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Western Division was a division in the National Basketball Association (NBA) and its forerunner, the Basketball Association of America (BAA). The division was created at the start of the 1946–47 BAA season,[1] when the league was created, and was then kept as one of the divisions when BAA merged with the National Basketball League (NBL) to create the NBA on August 3, 1949.[2] Originally, when the merger between the BAA and NBL happened, it was planned for the Western and Eastern divisions to be renamed into the American and National divisions (similar to what Major League Baseball had done following the National League and American League allowing for each league to compete with each other for the World Series in order for their leagues to maintain their independent integrity) with the divisions being re-divided between the Western and Eastern teams in both leagues not long afterward (though it was likely going to have the American Division teams being teams originally playing in the 1948–49 BAA season at the time and the National Division teams being teams planned to have been from the NBL at the time, including the Indianapolis Olympians expansion team), but the sudden dropout of the Oshkosh All-Stars from the initial BAA–NBL merger into the NBA by September 3, 1949, led to the Western and Eastern divisions returning as planned alongside the temporary creation of a Central Division for that season.[3] The division existed until the 1970–71 NBA season when the NBA expanded from 14 to 17 teams and realigned into the Eastern and Western conferences with two divisions each.[4]
| League | National Basketball Association |
|---|---|
| Sport | Basketball |
| First season | 1946–47 BAA season |
| Ceased | 1969–70 NBA season |
| Replaced by | Western Conference |
| Last champion | Atlanta Hawks (7th title) (1970) |
| Most titles | Minneapolis/Los Angeles Lakers (8 titles) |
Teams
- Notes
- † denotes an expansion team.
- * denotes a team that merged from the National Basketball League (NBL)
Team timeline
Division champions
| ^ | Had or tied for the best regular season record for that season |
Titles by team
| Team | Titles | Season(s) won |
|---|---|---|
| Minneapolis Lakers/Los Angeles Lakers | 8 | 1950–51, 1952–53, 1953–54, 1961–62, 1962–63, 1964–65, 1965–66, 1968–69 |
| St. Louis Hawks/Atlanta Hawks | 7 | 1956–57, 1957–58, 1958–59, 1959–60, 1960–61, 1967–68, 1969–70 |
| Rochester Royals (now the Sacramento Kings) | 2 | 1948–49, 1951–52 |
| Fort Wayne Pistons (now the Detroit Pistons) | 2 | 1954–55, 1955–56 |
| San Francisco Warriors (now the Golden State Warriors) | 2 | 1963–64, 1966–67 |
| Chicago Stags | 1 | 1946–47 |
| St. Louis Bombers | 1 | 1947–48 |
| Indianapolis Olympians | 1 | 1949–50 |
Season results
| ^ | Denotes team that won the BAA/NBA championships |
| + | Denotes team that lost the BAA/NBA Finals |
| * | Denotes team that qualified for the BAA/NBA playoffs |
| Season | Team (record) | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | 5th | 6th | 7th | |
| |||||||
| 1946–47 | Chicago+ (39–22) | St. Louis* (38–23) | Cleveland* (30–30) | Detroit (20–40) | Pittsburgh (15–45) | ||
| |||||||
| 1947–48 | St. Louis* (29–19) | Baltimore^ (28–20) | Chicago* (28–20) | Washington* (28–20) | |||
| |||||||
| 1948–49 | Rochester* (45–15) | Minneapolis^ (44–16) | Chicago* (38–22) | St. Louis* (29–31) | Fort Wayne (22–38) | Indianapolis (18–42) | |
| |||||||
| 1949–50 | Indianapolis* (39–25) | Anderson* (37–27) | Tri-Cities* (29–35) | Sheboygan* (22–40) | Waterloo (19–43) | Denver (11–51) | |
| |||||||
| 1950–51 | Minneapolis* (44–24) | Rochester^ (41–27) | Fort Wayne* (32–36) | Indianapolis* (31–37) | Tri-Cities (25–43) | ||
| |||||||
| 1951–52 | Rochester* (41–25) | Minneapolis^ (40–26) | Indianapolis* (34–32) | Fort Wayne* (29–37) | Milwaukee (17–49) | ||
| 1952–53 | Minneapolis^ (48–22) | Rochester* (44–26) | Fort Wayne* (36–33) | Indianapolis* (28–43) | Milwaukee (27–44) | ||
| |||||||
| 1953–54 | Minneapolis^ (46–26) | Rochester* (44–28) | Fort Wayne* (40–32) | Milwaukee (21–51) | |||
| 1954–55 | Fort Wayne+ (43–29) | Minneapolis* (40–32) | Rochester* (29–43) | Milwaukee (26–46) | |||
| |||||||
| 1955–56 | Fort Wayne+ (37–35) | Minneapolis* (33–39) | St. Louis* (33–39) | Rochester (31–41) | |||
| 1956–57 | St. Louis+ (34–38) | Minneapolis* (34–38) | Fort Wayne* (34–38) | Rochester (31–41) | |||
| |||||||
| 1957–58 | St. Louis^ (41–31) | Detroit* (33–39) | Cincinnati* (33–39) | Minneapolis (19–53) | |||
| 1958–59 | St. Louis* (49–23) | Minneapolis+ (33–39) | Detroit* (28–44) | Cincinnati (19–53) | |||
| 1959–60 | St. Louis+ (46–29) | Detroit* (30–45) | Minneapolis* (25–50) | Cincinnati (19–56) | |||
| |||||||
| 1960–61 | St. Louis+ (51–28) | Los Angeles* (36–43) | Detroit* (34–45) | Cincinnati (33–46) | |||
| |||||||
| 1961–62 | Los Angeles+ (54–26) | Cincinnati* (43–37) | Detroit* (37–43) | St. Louis (29–51) | Chicago (18–62) | ||
| |||||||
| 1962–63 | Los Angeles+ (53–27) | St. Louis* (48–32) | Detroit* (34–46) | San Francisco (31–49) | Chicago (25–55) | ||
| |||||||
| 1963–64 | San Francisco+ (48–32) | St. Louis* (46–34) | Los Angeles* (42–38) | Baltimore (31–49) | Detroit (23–57) | ||
| 1964–65 | Los Angeles+ (49–31) | St. Louis* (45–35) | Baltimore* (37–43) | Detroit (31–49) | San Francisco (17–63) | ||
| 1965–66 | Los Angeles+ (45–35) | Baltimore* (38–42) | St. Louis* (36–44) | San Francisco (35–45) | Detroit (22–58) | ||
| |||||||
| 1966–67 | San Francisco+ (44–37) | St. Louis* (39–42) | Los Angeles* (36–45) | Chicago* (33–48) | Detroit (30–51) | ||
| |||||||
| 1967–68 | St. Louis* (56–26) | Los Angeles+ (52–30) | San Francisco* (43–39) | Chicago* (29–53) | Seattle (23–59) | San Diego (15–67) | |
| |||||||
| 1968–69 | Los Angeles+ (55–27) | Atlanta* (48–34) | San Francisco* (41–41) | San Diego* (37–45) | Chicago (33–49) | Seattle (30–52) | Phoenix (16–66) |
| 1969–70 | Atlanta* (48–34) | Los Angeles+ (46–36) | Chicago* (39–43) | Phoenix* (39–43) | Seattle (36–46) | San Francisco (30–52) | San Diego (27–55) |
| |||||||